A priest whose display of friendship with a Protestant mininster at the height of the Troubles made world headlines had "the desire to go the extra mile", the Bishop of Derry has said.
Father Kevin Mullan, who was originally from Co Tyrone and was also widely respected for comforting those grieving following the Omagh bombing in 1998, passed away on Saturday.
Tributes have poured in for the well-known priest, who served in parishes across both Co Derry and Co Tyrone.
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On Christmas Day in 1984, while based in Limavady in Co Derry, Fr Mullan joined with the then Presbyterian Rev David Armstrong to shake hands in a public display of friendship.
The Omagh-born Fr Mullan's gesture outside their neighbouring Churches prompted hatred, including death threats against Rev Armstrong who was forced to leave with his family for England.
Fr Mullan has also been widely praised for his role following the Omagh bombing, offering comfort to those bereaved by the mass killing.
Following his death on Saturday, an inter-Church service is due to take place on Monday evening in St Patrick's Church, Drumquin before a private funeral on Tuesday.
Amongst those paying tribute to the well-known clergyman was Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown, who praised his "whimsical approach" and "huge generosity".
Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle on Monday, Bishop McKeown said: "I suppose I would have known him years ago, long before I came to Derry, because I would have been involved in the Irish Church Music Association. He bestrode the stage there. He had a great love of liturgy, of doing it well, and a great love of Church music. I would have met him in the late '70s, early '80s, when I as a young priest was involved in that organisation as well.
"He was one of those characters that I knew of before I came to Derry and he didn't disappoint me in terms of his whimsical approach to things, his huge generosity, enormous involvement with people."
He continued: "He always went the extra mile - with David Armstrong in Limavady, or a photograph in one of the papers last July showing him having plunked his seat at the Orangemen's field in Omagh, chatting away to an Orangman as happy as you like.
"I was down on Saturday evening for the vigil Mass in Drumquin and the streets were lined with people, because he knew everybody. He visited all the sick, whatever your Church background was or no Church background, he had that sort of freedom of spirit which endeared him to people even though he was quite frail in recent years."
On the comfort Fr Mullan offered following the Omagh bombing and his peace-building efforts, Bishop McKeown said: "I think Omagh would have grown up as a town where there were remarkably strong intercommunity relations. Until the Omagh bomb, Omagh had suffered remarkably little during the Troubles. But I think it was just his nature. He wanted to be out building bridges rather than building walls."
He continued: "He just had that desire to go the extra mile for people and to build relationships, because with relationships everything was possible. He would write a lot of letters, remember anniversaries, keep in touch with people, all in his own inimitable handwriting."
He continued: "He was a gracious man and I suppose what I learned on Saturday evening with the crowds that were there - the chapel was packed - was that people respond not to great orators, but to people who live a simple lifestyle, who want to go the extra mile, to serve everybody irrespective of their backgrounds.
"I think people respond to that sort of leadership. We've seen that in politics as well in some cases where people respond to generous leaders are respected - even if they're frail at the end of their days.
"And Kevin was frail. He was on dialysis for this past few years, a heart attack in 2017, but he kept doing his best for people. And boy did they respect that."
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